Chapter 231 - Violets Are A Million

When they reached the end of the hallway, Feng Xuan raised her hand to cover her eyes from the blinding orange light. The noise intensified and it took a few seconds before her senses felt like it was not getting attacked.

The floor was taken over by tables lined with red instead of the usual green. At one corner, the slot machines did not stop whirring and rolling.

A person handed Qing Chen a handful of stacked ch.i.p.s. "Wanna have some fun?"

**

Thirty minutes later, Feng Xuan lost the last of her ch.i.p.s on the roulette. Then she finally set on to find Qing Chen. She found him at one of the blackjack tables with a glass of golden liquid. She grabbed it and drank.

"How are you?" he asked and pulled her to sit on his lap.

She eyed the growing stack on his side. "It's not fair that you found a way to multiply your money."

"Do you want more ch.i.p.s?"

She shook her head and nestled it against his neck. She eyed the people on the table. Most of them were normal-looking aside from two people. One was the older woman who was seated diagonally across from them, she had a lot of jewelries on. Feng Xuan bet there were real jewels on her ears and fingers.

She whistled under her breath. That ruby pendant…

But the older woman kept on taking a look at the man across from her. He was in a suit—probably just came from the office and he looked stressed out. His hair was sticking up in all directions. His tie was loosened and the first button of his shirt was open. His ch.i.p.s were running low.

"Does Enigma have a loaning business?" she wondered.

Qing Chen smiled at her and surrendered his cards. "Can you really have a mafia without people owing you money?" He gently pushed her off him. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To the bigger tables."

**

Feng Xuan had not noticed the door at the end of the room. It was covered with a thick curtain and was also manned. They were easily let in.

The place was less loud and less bright. She could actually hear the people taking and understand their words. Qing Chen handed her another stack of ch.i.p.s—only this time they were small rectangles. 

"What does this mean?" she asked.

"Violets are a million, oranges are half, blues are two hundred thousand, reds are a hundred."

Feng Xuan almost dropped the ch.i.p.s to the floor. She cursed under her breath. "And you want me to play?"

"Isn't that what we came here for? What do you want to play?"

"I'm going to lose this money."

"And nobody cares, wife," he kissed the top of her head. "So, which one do you know most?"

**

Twenty minutes later, it was Qing Chen and Feng Xuan on the poker table. She had three queens but it was possible that Qing Chen had a full house with the way he just tossed the lot of his ch.i.p.s on the bet.

She widened her eyes at him, threatening. But he was unfazed and sent her an easy smile. All the cards were already on the table. 

"All in," said the dealer. "Miss?"

Feng Xuan narrowed her eyes at Qing Chen but he kept his face blank. How much did she know her husband? What kind of stupid game was he playing?

Feng Xuan decided to go for it. It was just money anyway. She pushed her stack along with his and the dealer announced the new pot and it got a huge gasp from another table. 

"Ha!" she exclaimed when she saw Qing Chen only had two pair. "All mine!!" she made a big sweep from the middle table and towards her. "What time are we going to the next one?" she asked him as she stacked her ch.i.p.s accordingly.

"I never want to leave this place."

Feng Xuan got intrigued. "Let's go now."

Qing Chen eyed her for a moment. "Are you sure? Things are about to get ugly from this point onwards."

She got more curious and waved to one of the people who Qing Chen was ordering around since earlier then gestured to her ch.i.p.s. "Well, let's go." She even held out her hand to him as she stood up.

He took it but she had to pull him off the seat.

Whatever this was, Qing Chen was not happy with it.

**

"How many drinks have you had?" Feng Xuan asked.

"I don't know," Qing Chen answered, pinching the bridge of his nose as they walk to the next place. "All this walking is sobering me up. Trust me, you need a bottle for the next ones."

With that in mind, she was not even surprised when the next door they went in immediately offered them drinks. She immediately downed hers and did a full body shiver. "Eck, that's a REALLY cheap drink."

This had to be the darkest of all the places they went to and it smelled. Like sweat and something else sharp. Qing Chen and her went up the stairs, hearing the loud screaming from somewhere—not a single woman's voice. Then there was a thudding sound.

When they reached the opening, she realized they were in a small arena. Feng Xuan almost didn't want to take a seat when she saw what was happening below. There were two men on the hollowed ring, both shirtless and barefoot with bloodied swollen faces.

"Is this Fight Club?!" she exclaimed and Qing Chen just calmly took a seat. A woman in a rush placed a bottle on the small table in between the seat. It was like being in the upper box in an opera. "When are they going to stop?"

"Until when one of them can no longer stand. Win or lose, you get some money."

And people were betting on who would get hurt less? Just what the hell was wrong with these people?